Jermaine Jones Could Be a Yank by Next Week

August 4th, 2010 | by: Ian Rose |

jones Jermaine Jones has never been afraid of a bit of controversy. In 2004, he took a fairly softball question, “Are there any gay footballers in the Bundesliga?” (Easy answer: I don’t know) and turned it into a major story when he answered “Hopefully not”. Classy. He’s also somewhat infamous for his relationship, or lack thereof, with the fans of his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt, where he announced he was leaving with a post on the club’s bulletin board. But he’s about to make an official switch a bit more profound than leaving a club. Next week, the German-born Jones, who has played as a senior for Germany (though not in FIFA-approved matches), will probably play his first match as an American, after his call up for the friendly with Brazil.

The process has been in the works for a while, and will not be news to many US fans, some of whom were hoping to see Jones in red, white and blue for the World Cup. He has gone through the proper channels, petitioning UEFA, CONCACAF and FIFA to make the change, despite bending the rule that a senior national team appearance means a final decision on nationality. But it still surprises me to see it happening. His father is American, and in the nationality sense, I have no problems with it – personality quirks and prejudices aside, he’s more then welcome in the States. He even spent some of his childhood in the US, so it’s not cut and dry. But I tend to be a national team purist, and this seems like one step farther over the line than other international switches.

So I put it to you – the WorldCupBlog and Offside readers. Do you think a player with senior caps for his country (albeit in non-Blatter-approved matches) should be able to change allegiance? Do you think this sets a dangerous precedent? Or am I a dinosaur for even bringing it up, in the age of Cacau, Amauri, etc? Discuss.

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http://twitter.com/estebanlugo Esteban Lugo

You're a T-rex.
WorldCupBlog

At least it's a cool dinosaur.
http://www.facebook.com/marlon.frisby Marlon Frisby

I don't think Jones' situation is one to get too upset about because his father was American and he spent sometime in America when he was younger. What should bother you more is when players just decide to play for the European country they've been in for awhile because they won't make the Brazil squad.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_L3AJYSCNWX3ATG5QENEFK4HYQY Radu-Mihai

Well, it wouldn't create a precedent because back when everything was a nickle, it was not an oddity for a player to play for multiple national teams. Back then FIFA didn't have rules concerning this. Also, after WWI the European multi-national empires [Austra-Hungary, Ottoman, Russian] broke into multiple countries, and many players chose to play for these new countries [logically].
WorldCupBlog

Got a kick out of “when everything was a nickle”. Thanks for that.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=3011331 Tej Kohli

Wow Such a Great News
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Bennet/100001354952742 David Bennet

The process has been in the works for a while, and will not be news to many US fans, some of whom were hoping to see Jones in red, white and blue for the World Cup.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Lammers/1169193386 Aaron Lammers

I think this will actually force National Teams to call up young players for FIFA sanctioned games sooner. Since that will lock them in. I think this will force the US to play some of the younger multinational players. And if that becomes the precedent I am all for it.
http://www.auto-tip.ro/vanzari-auto vanzari auto

I relly dont think if he must do this step. It is a big one and he isn t prepared.
Nick_GWCB

I am all for Jermaine Jones joining the US team, but thing is…

“bother you more is when players just decide to play for the European country they've been in for awhile because they won't make the Brazil squad”

On a certain level it is almost exactly what Jones is doing. he could not make the Germany A team despite playing there his entire life. Started to make excuses for himself and now is representing a country he previous had no desire to play… fact is he can't even speak English well yet. Still good to see him go where he's needed.
Bense235

If anybody wants to have him, I'm fine with that. He's turning 29 now this year. It's not as if somebody would “steal” a young talent or so. It's Jones last chance of playing NT football. And if any teams wants to ruin their atmosphere, bring in Jones.

I personally don't give two rats asses if that player has only played in friendlies.

I'm much more in favour of a youth player rule that makes them ineligible for at least 3-5 years for another FA or 1-3 years if the National FA is being reimbursed for the costs. The “worst” case I can remember was Mladen Petric. He went thru all of the Swiss youth system and later on, personal decision my ass, decided to play for the country of his parents. The Swiss FA got no compensation.

Here in Germany, I can remember Sahin who was even born in Germany and Subotic, but in Subotic's case, FIFA fully fucked up. Like half a year after Subotic was declared ineligible for the German NT, FIFA changed the ruling so he would have been – but he already played for Serbia by then. Not a conspiracy, just poor timing.

Germany never really bled out because so many players were “deserting” the NT. Most of these faded into obscurity. Players should be eligible for an FA when they have close ties as in having ancestors from there, being born there or marrying somebody from there, having went thru the youth system or simply for playing there for all of their lives.

It's not as if you can “buy” decent players for your NT. Well, unless you're maybe some oil oligarch country.